


Myrtle Branch

by PitbullMabari



Series: Thou Shalt Not Murder [1]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: District Eight, Gen, Jewish Character, Judaism, OC, Original Character - Freeform, Original Character Death(s), Original Character-centric, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Prequel, Speculation, suicide TW, tradition, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 17:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitbullMabari/pseuds/PitbullMabari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are 613 commandments that God has made. Often, they can only follow ten. Sometimes, they can only follow two. In which Judaism survives the creation of Panem and thrives in District Eight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Myrtle Branch

**Author's Note:**

> I blame Bis. Much of this is based off of actual Jewish customs. I've included footnotes. I went with mostly Ashkenazi traditions because that's what I'm familiar with.
> 
> "Hadassa" translates to "Myrtle".

 

 

 

_' “That's blasphemy!”_

“ _That's what people say when the voiceless speak.” '_

_-”Feet of Clay”, Terry Pratchett_

 

 

Dassa is fourteen when she is reaped.

She wears her Reaping clothes, the black skirt that falls to her knees and the white shirt with blue stars. She turns the red thread tied around her wrist. It's always given her luck. Not now.

_The day after the Reaping, Ima always set a small bowl of fat on the counter. She would place a white thread in the bowl along with the fat and light it. During bad years she took oil from their Parcels. On good years it was a candle(1)._

Right now, Ima is lighting a candle. Cecelia always leaves two candles in the town square for the families of the tributes on Reaping Day. Other families are visiting. Tonight Ima and Aba and Sora, Eden, and Chaveh will eat well. Every Reaping Day the food that is made isn't for yourself, but or the families of the tributes.

_While the oil burned, Ima would tell them stories. They were not good stories, like the stories of Eliahu or David. They weren't stories about the shtetl Chelm or the Golden City(2)._

_They were stories about fire. They were like the story of Esther, if Esther wasn't there. They reminded Dassa of the way they lived now, if the Reaping was every day instead of every year._

The train Dassa and David are on rides smoothly. Inside, it is spacious and luxurious. It is nothing like the trains of the Firebrand.

At least the Nazis were honest.

_When Dassa was in the goodbye-room, Aba came and pressed something into her hand. When he left, she looked at it. A worn woolen bag. White, striped in blue. Her token. She could no longer hold back the tears that had formed in her eyes. This was Aba's. Nearly nobody in Eight had one of these anymore, and he had given her his._

The Capitol is ugly. When she was alive, and sane, Bubbi told Dassa stories about a golden city in the east, guarded by living statues. If the city there is gold, the Capitol is gilt.

_Girls didn't wear these. Well, almost nobody did. She took the shawl from its bag. It was larger than she remembered. With trembling hands she kissed the collar twice(3) and wrapped the fringed rectangle around her as she had seen her father do a thousand times. She did not let it fall down around her shoulders, and did not fold up the sides, but kept it up around her, her face buried into the wool, breathing in its scent._

The servers do not speak at all. Her mentor says they can't. She remembers the stories Bubbi told her about the statues that guarded the City of Gold. And she remembers the stories Old Man Rashi told about when they were slaves until Moshe freed them. She hopes these slaves have their own Moshe soon.

_In Eight they worked for six days, and were free a seventh. At the end of the sixth day, Ima would lay two small loaves of Tessarae bread on the table, and cover them with cloth. She would light two small bowls of oil, and lay them beside the bread. On all other days, they would eat at sundown and leave food for Aba on the table. But on the sixth, they would light at sundown, and sit and watch the lights burn until Aba was home. And then they would eat(4)._

Her stylist is named Titus.

Bubbi said that the City was once not golden, but hewn from pink stone. A man named Titus set it to fire, and for all the city was built of stone, it burned.(5)

_Three days of every year, no one in Eight would work at all. It was different from the other days when no one worked, when it was because God had rested and so did humans._

_On the first of the three days, they feasted on fish and carrots, round bakery loaves, and, on good years, apples and sweet honey from the woods of Eight. On the second they sang, they danced, and told stories._

_And on the third, they did nothing at all. On the third day of God, they sat and thought of the world, and they thought of ways they could make it better, and they promised to themselves, and to God, and to those around them to do better in the coming year(6)._

Dassa likes the chariot, somewhat, and she can tell David feels the same.

The outside is painted like stones, like piles of stones, and inside it Dassa and David are dressed in black, white capes, patterned in stars falling over their shoulders. They wear black crowns.

Dassa can tell what this is a nod to, and she appreciates it, but she does wish the stylists had a little more knowledge of their customs.

_When there was a birth in Eight, there was rejoicing and a naming._

_When there was a funeral, there was chanting and sitting. Stones were set by the deceased's grave, and for seven days their family was cared for._

_And in between, there were celebrations and grieving. There were weddings, with the shawl held over the bride and groom's head, and coming-of-age ceremonies with whatever could pass as a shawl draped around the child's shoulders as they led the songs to God(7)._

Dassa stands on the plate. Beyond it there is a landscape that reminds her of the Golden City. Desert, bleak and dry.

An announcer is speaking. She does not care.

She holds the shawl in her hands. If she is to do this, she will do it properly. She lifts the collar in her hands to her lips and kisses it twice. Swings it around. Murmurs a prayer for what she's about to do, then lets the cloth fall around her shoulders. Carefully folds the cloth up onto her shoulders.

_In all the districts, they have a symbol. Kiss two fingers of your right hand and raise them in solidarity with those who are oppressed._

Hadassah BetYakov closes her eyes and kisses her for and middle fingers. She feels as if all eyes are on her. She raises her hand. And sings. She sings the ancient words that have been spoken four thousand years, that every child and every elder in Eight knows by heart.

It is said that these are the words that everyone should speak before they die, the first and last things they speak, the words they learn all their lives.

“Sh'ma Yisroel! Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad.”

Her step is deliberate and wide. Her eyes are open, but they don't look at the desert before her. They look at the City of Gold. Maybe you go there after.

_Listen, Israel! God is our Lord, and He is one._

**Author's Note:**

> (1)Referring to the tradition of lighting a candle on the anniversery of a loved one's death. In this case, it is lit to remember the Holocaust, as well as other genocides before the creation of Panem.  
> (2) Jerusalem is often referred to as "city of gold". In Panem, where nearly eveyrone is starving, this has been taken literally.  
> (3) Dassa goes through the actual rituals for putting on a tallis (prayer shawl). THey are, in fact, often white with blue stripes and matching bags.  
> (4) Panem's adaption of Shabbos  
> (5) A real person, General Titus was the Roman general who conquered Jerusalem.  
> (6) Panem's adaption of the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, with Simchat Torah combined into the second day of Rosh Hashannah. The foods mentioned are all eaten on Rosh Hashannah.  
> (7) Also adapted from Jewish traditions. The cloth held over the bride and groom is an adaption of the chupah, which represents the house.


End file.
